Will Democrats Choose To Go Softly Into The Night?

It was a different Barbara Ellis who Dick Clark introduced in the clip above (1959). The Fleetwood' song made it to #1 but Ellis went on the become the manager of a trailer park. Barbara G Ellis owns a p.r. firm in Portland, Oregon and describes herself as "a political and environmental activist." She writes left-wing polemics regularly for Truthout and CounterPunch. Today's was a real doozy.

It started out as a fine critique of the DNC, the Democratic Party establishment and Biden's failed presidency... before heading off into the kind of wild blue yonder that could cause a much-needed final of the Democratic Party between progressives and the Republican wing of the Democratic Party that would be free to join the mainstream conservatives fleeing Trump-- the ultimate pro-corporate centrist party.

Ellis began by reminding her readers that "After Biden’s two years in office, I and millions of others have concluded he and his DNC handlers have little interest in us 99-percenters by failure to vigorously and regularly fight for our critical needs. They have him blistering their foreign enemies, but rarely our domestic enemies in Congress and Corporate America. He still comes off as a disingenuous senator using Congressional courtesies and people-pleasing to chase cash from big donors."

She went on to paint him as pretty much the worst Democratic president in living memory. Accurate enough but she has an even worse idea about replacing him after convincing him to not run in 2024. "It may not be hard. He may be relieved to pass the baton to someone stronger, tougher, younger, politically seasoned, and a former major Administration official. Someone who’s a household name and too familiar in foreign capitals-- and scares Trump who fears strong, smart, and super-competent Someone who’s been in the DNC 'inner circle,' whose presidential campaign loaned the party millions to help pay off part of Obama’s $47 million debt from his 2012 re-election campaign. Who else but Hillary Clinton?"

She wouldn't have to ask if she was an actual progressive activist or if she hadn't lost her mind. The answer to her question: Anybody but Hillary Clinton. Ellis' case is literally sickening. The party "owes" Hillary a "last hurrah?" I hear the pot they're growing up in Oregon is strong but this is crazy talk beyond a good high. And Ellis says we have to go with Hillary because there's no one else. How about ANYONE else? Like Bernie. Like Marianne Williamson. Like Ro Khanna. Like Jeff Merkley. (Not Kamala or Mayo Pete or Gina Raimondo or Manchin... all about as dreadful as Hillary.)

Ellis case for Hillary is enough to make you want to throw up. She wrote because she's been tracking Hillary’s political moves for the last two years, I argued she seems to be in good physical and emotional shape for 74. She stays current on national and international events-- especially the hot domestic issues that concern most Americans. Upgrading a résumé in her case is a clear sign of plans to return to public office. After all, she’s never let go of the nearly 69 million who voted for her in 2016, and those thousands of fanatic campaigners from two presidential runs. Indeed, she has created an 'alumni' organization (Hillaryland)."

For the last two years, she’s hosted a podcast talk show (You & Me Both with Hillary Clinton ) split into a celebrity interview and her responses to listeners’ letters, permitting her to comment about major news. Late last year, she and husband Bill did an online teaching stint about leadership on the private MasterClass White House series (1.5 million subscribers @$180 annually). She’s co-authored a “thriller” novel, and her latest book (What Happened ) about the 2016 election will be in bookstores September 12. Plenty of time for 2024.

Hillary still knows how to generate media coverage. A few days ago, she wrote a New York Times op ed eulogy to Madeleine Albright, her predecessor as Secretary of State. And she just sued Trump to dismiss his recent lawsuit charging her with “a racketeering conspiracy to propagate false claims about him and Russia” in the 2016 campaign. She’s claiming he waited over four years to file action, that it lacked validity, and was a political publicity stunt (benefitting both for 2024). She’s also picked up publicity-- and gratitude from the DNC and midterm candidates-- by endorsing some in critical key states such as Ohio. Nor has she been shy about revealing a positive test for COVID. Millions of American voters will identify.

So she seems to be making careful preparations for cultivating the inner-circle’s nod for another run against Trump. Her weapons will be his monumental basket of high crimes and misdemeanors leading to two impeachments. He faces federal prison for approving the treasonous attempt to overthrow the Constitution and the Biden government to remain president that’s unfolding in the House Select Committee on the January 6 attack. In addition, a federal judge just ordered him to pay a $10,000-per-day fine in New York for failure to turn over his company’s subpoenaed documents in a business fraud case. His weapons will still be her emails, misogamistic comments about her looks (not age; he’s 75 ), and misdeeds as Secretary of State. Unfortunately, most voters either don’t remember them or no longer care.

It’s doubtful the inner-circle will ever dictate policies to Hillary. Recognizing Americans are more concerned with domestic crises than global issues like the Ukraine/Russian war, she has a kit of remedies from earlier campaigns to prevent a major public explosion. One major help will be her kit of 41 policy proposals of which 38 looked like a Bernie platform. They involved everything from gun control and debt-free college to expanding Social Security/Medicare, low-cost housing, and voting rights. Though accused of being in the pockets of Wall Street and the Pentagon, her proposals included plans to reform both.

With her monumental credentials, expect that DNC inner-circle soon to be asking us: What’s not to like about replacing Joe with Hillary as our presidential candidate?

Hillary Clinton was a conservative Republican and a "Goldwater Girl," switched parties and wound up as a complete corporate Democrat and grotesque careerist who personifies everything progressive Democrats hate about the Democratic Party. If she were handed the 2024 nomination, there would be a Democratic Party of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and a Democratic Party of Bill and Hillary Clinton... at war with each other.